He’s a little grrl back there. Little runs every now and then, can’t pass to save his life (relevent to other QBs). Am I right? An idiot?
Oops, just threw another INT against NO. :wally
While he’s not the greatest passer ever, he was one of the greatest running QBs ever. The combination made him an incredibly offensive threat.
So the opponent’s strategy is clear: Take his knees out. He isn’t going to last much longer in the NFL. What you are seeing today is a Vick who is still recovering from a two week old injury.
Sad to have opposing teams think destroying another player’s career is a fair strategy.
Destroying his career is not the goal. Stopping him is. If he wants to prolong his career he needs to learn how to pass or stop being so fragile. Otherwise he’ll be a very undersized running back playing option until he gets knocked out.
Besides, going for the knees is very fair. Why should a defense have to pussyfoot around a quarterback of limited skill because he’s more fragile than a piece of china?
He’s always dangerous and an amazing runner, but I’ve never thought he was a great QB. If he incorporates the running skills into a more complete game, he could be one.
As far as beating Vick, you don’t need to take his knees out. The Eagles did exactly the right thing in the NFC championship game last year: have guys on the outside, spy, and don’t overpursue.
Vick may not be the best passer, but has a great eye for when to take off running and make big plays to keep drives going. He has a very good winning percentage as a starter. The guy just wins.
He is also not delicate. 300lb guys can destroy anybody’s knees. He gets hurt more because he gets more dirty hits.
…and he just won again today.
That’s a steaming load of crap. Every running back in the league, every wide receiver in the league, and every kick returner in the league takes hits in the legs on a regular basis. The vast majority of them get up. That Vick gets hurt a lot is entirely the fault of a) the offensive line that can’t keep the opposing defense off him or b) Michael Vick. If you’re going to go for the heroic 50-yard run keep in mind that at some point you have to slide or you’re going to get plugged. He can’t throw, he won’t slide, and his line sucks. That’s why he gets hurt all the time.
By your criteria the hit that Ben Roethlisberger took last week to the knee was dirty, and we all know what a mobile, scrambling quarterback he is.
Well, he’d better get mobile and scramble back in the Steelers line-up pretty quick, if today’s performance is any indication. Maddox should have been wearing a Jacksonville uniform, for all the good he did Pittsburgh.
I gotta respect the guy, too, for going for the extra yards when he runs. None of this sissy “slide feet first so they don’t get you” crap. He can take a hit with the best of em.
No he can’t. That’s why he’s always on the disabled list. He plays like he think he can, but he is far too valuable to the Falcons to take hits and get laid up all the time.
There is no Disabled List in the NFL. There is an injury report and a player can be placed on Injured Reserve. I’ve also heard mention of a PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) status but am unsure how that differs if at all from the status of a player on IR.
I think players on IR are gone for the season. There are still the injury rating things, and Vick has still not played 16 games in a season.
First of all. . .I wouldn’t criticize Vick for running like a girl, or not being able to pass relative to other QBs. He’s a QB with his own style. A style that involves running as well as passing to move the ball down the field.
THAT, he does well. His record speaks for itself. Atlanta wins games and makes the playoffs when they have Vick, and they don’t make the playoffs when they don’t.
That said, he is somewhat fragile. He’s missed a lot of games over the years. I don’t know if he’s just been unlucky, or if he’s soft. Would that broken leg the Ravens gave him have broken everyone elses leg? It didn’t look that bad, but that’s impossible to judge.
Vick is no quarterback, he is a running back. Anybody see Tomlinson’s HB Pass for a TD against the Giants on Sunday Night Football? The Chargers clearly got the better deal from that trade. (Vick for Tomlinson, Brees and that return guy. [Tim Dwight?])
There was a thread a while back asking if the option is so popular (and effective) in college, why don’t the pros do it? The short answer is that the pros will kill the QB. Which brings us to Vick.
There are many problems with scrambling in the NFL. It is no coincidence that only 1 QB has ever scrambled for 300+ yards in a season and managed to win the Superbowl. (Steve Young.) Scramblers make the playoffs all the time, but are simply incapable of winning the big one.
I would call Elway and Favre and Steve Young scramblers.
At least more than I’d call them “Drop back passers.”
None of them are scramblers in the Mike Vick/Randall Cunningham mode but those are the extremes. I don’t think that you can say scrambler’s are underrepresented among Superbowl winners.
Bledsoe and Marino never won superbowls either, and Peyton is still short of one, so the I don’t really see the lead-legs-golden-arms there too much either.
Anyway – Vick’s first full season was 2002. They went to the playoffs, beat GB in GB and then lost to the Eagles.
2003, he’s out. Atlanta doesn’t sniff the playoffs.
2004, he plays another full season, Atlanta makes it to the NFC championship. He’s come as close to the big one as Peyton has.
Say what you will about his toughness, but as for being a winning QB who can also win playoff games, you can’t argue with Vick’s numbers.
Yeah, clearly. That’s why they lost a playoff game at home against the wildcard Jets last year.
Tomlinson is a better RB than Vick, and Brees is a better QB. Edge: San Diego. 
Is there a difference between a scrambling quarterback and a quarterback that’s better outside the pocket? I’m thinking Plummer here, where he will run at times but is generally better outside the pocket than in it.